


The End Of The World (Is Not Enough)

by bobtaire



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: 1x6, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canonical Character Death, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Klaus Has Issues, Post-Canon, Protective Diego, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Reginald Hargreeves A+ parenting, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Love, The Day That Wasn't, alternative timenline, brotherly fight, mentions of other siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 18:22:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17872415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bobtaire/pseuds/bobtaire
Summary: Five doesn’t escape from the Commission’s headquarter. The Umbrella Academy doesn’t discover Leonard’s plan. They never know what caused the Apocalypse, and they don’t know how to stop it. So they don’t.Klaus’s first encounter with God only happens after the Apocalypse. He comes back alive but the rest of the world is dead. This is how he deals with it, with a little help from his siblings.Set in the timeline of 1x6 “The Day That Wasn’t”“What about Dave? If you get high you won’t see him again”The tiniest smile breaks Klaus’s face "Maybe I'll get lucky and OD once and for all, then I'll be seeing him forever. That’s what I was supposed to do anyway”





	The End Of The World (Is Not Enough)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So, this is my first fanfiction in English, it’s not beta read, and I honestly didn’t know what was going on half of the time while I was writing.  
> I just got very fascinated with the concept of free will, choices and consequences in The Umbrella Academy series and I wanted to play a little with it.  
> Also I love my dysfunctional children, but they're a mess.  
> The idea besides this one is that 1x7 never happens. Five is killed at the Commission’s headquarters so he never convinces his siblings to fight the Apocalypse, Allison and Luther go to California and meet Claire, Diego learns his father’s secret from Grace but never gets to tell the others as he is looking for Hazel and Cha-cha. Vanya still finds out what Leonard wants to do and kills him, then she goes to the concert and the White Violin causes the Apocalypse.  
> I hope you'll enjoy my… whatever this is.

Klaus survives.

Living was never his goal, it was mostly something that happened to him. He didn’t actively try to die either, that wasn’t why the drugs happened. When you were in a situation like his, living and dying were not so different, at least that’s what he always thought; but this time he should have died, he may have preferred that.

Isn’t that the raison d’être for the Apocalypse, to kill everyone? It should be easy, so easy even Klaus can understand it. World’s destruction equals death. The world is destroyed, Klaus should be dead. "Should" being the key word here, because he obviously isn't.

The Apocalypse was a mess, he is not even sure if he died because of the shock waves or because of the whole Academy falling into his head. Not that it matters anyway.

Since the last family meeting he had tried to live his last days on Earth as well as he could: he got sober -he should thank Diego for that; he saw Dave and they spent as much time as possible together, they barely slept, instead they stayed up all night and talked for the better part of two days. Klaus didn’t want to sleep, he was afraid that if he did he would wake up and find out Dave was not there, he couldn’t stand to lose him again. But he didn’t, Dave was always there, even Ben left them alone most of the time to give them some privacy.

Ben had heard the way Klaus spoke about Dave to Diego and he wanted Klaus to be happy again before they all died. He should probably thank Ben too.

His brother appeared again on Friday evening, and they all waited for the Apocalypse laying down on the lawn, watching the stars. Klaus would have loved to kiss Dave in those final moments, a last magical kiss while the rest of the world exploded. But Dave was a ghost, and ghosts cannot be touched, let alone kissed.

He comforted himself thinking that maybe if they were both dead at least that problem would go away, at least he could’ve touched him again. It was a small consolation, but still something. He didn’t even have that.

He didn’t care about how the world ended, he decided in that family meeting that it wasn’t important. He felt a little bad about Vanya, she didn’t even know what was going to happen, but maybe it was better that way.

At the end he stayed dead only two hours, but his trip to Heaven was not so pleasant. The place was overcrowded, there were too many dead people at once. It was not fitted to sort out 7 billion souls in so little time, and his case happened to be, for some reason, particularly difficult.

He met God, who apparently was a child on a bicycle, and she didn't like him. She said the Devil didn't want him either and that they were way too busy to deal with him, so she just sent him back. Turns out, God is not so loving after all.

Next thing he knows, he is back at the Academy, not because he was good enough to survive, but because he can’t even properly die, or stay dead for all that matter.

That is a new low.

Fuck, this whole situation is so absurd he has to laugh, but he isn’t high enough for that, he isn’t numb enough for that. He’s basically sober, and he feels too much. He can’t deal with it.

He tried to live those days at their fullest, he wanted to be prepared for death. Mistress Death was such an important part of his life, he owed her to be ready. 

But it was useless, he is alive, he survived. Dave is dead, so are Diego and Vanya, all of his family really, as well as the rest of the fucking world, and he is alive and sober and alone.

There are so many ghosts, he feels them coming, desperately calling for him. He falls on his knees, hands above his ears. He needs his pills.

“No, you don’t.”

 _Of course_.

He hadn’t realized he has said it out loud, but everything is so confused right now that talking to himself is the last of his problems. “You’re still here.”

Ben looks exactly the same, like nothing had happened, like the world hasn’t just ended a couple of hours ago. But again, he was already dead when the Apocalypse came; there is no reason for him to look any different. Klaus suppose he should thank him for what he did yesterday, but what is the point of it if he is still trapped here, in the not-so-living-anymore world?

“I’ve been here for ten years; do you really think I would go away now?” says Ben.

“I kinda hoped so”

“Liar”

“Drop dead”

“After you. Oh wait, you can’t.”

Klaus death-stares him. “Fuck off.”

Ben ignores him, he has become incredibly good at it after so many years of having the same conversation over and over again. “You know I’m right, this is the worst possible situation to get high in.”

Klaus giggles “Oh, that’s where you’re wrong, my dear brother. This is the only acceptable time to get completely fucked up. We’re literally the only people left on Earth and I don’t want _them_ coming for me.”

“You were just sobering up. I like sober you”

“It was the worst mistake of my life”

“What about Dave? If you get high you won’t see him again”

The tiniest smile breaks Klaus’s face, it is one of the saddest sights Ben had ever seen "Maybe I'll get lucky and OD once and for all, then I'll be seeing him forever. That’s what I was supposed to do anyway” it might have looked like a joke to everyone else, but Ben knows better.

“You tried, that didn’t work out”

“Words run fast in Heaven, don’t they?” he raises his eyebrows, questioning. Ben can only stare as Klaus starts looking for whatever he hopes to find in this post-apocalyptic disaster “That doesn’t matter anyway. There are just so many times God can reject me.”

“So what? Are you going to keep trying to kill yourself until God lets you stay dead? What are you hoping to find anyway? Everything is destroyed!”

Klaus clicks his tongue, without looking at Ben “Yeah, that’s the plan. I mean, I’m sure there’s a gun or some glass I could use, but I would much rather OD or get alcohol poisoning, those are my first choices. But I'm sure the Apocalypse offers plenty of opportunities to die if one really wants to".

There is no point trying to reason with him, he is upset and Ben can’t blame him. This is the end of the world, he is supposed to be dead, and he is Klaus, that’s the way he deals with things, he always had: big words, drugs, some drama. It’s his coping mechanism. It is not a healthy one, but not many things in their lives had been healthy.

None of those are good enough reasons to say shit like that, obviously; Ben is mad at Klaus, just not mad enough to fight with him, not yet at least. Moreover, until he doesn’t act upon those words, Ben is glad Klaus gets to vent. He sure as hell needs it.

In the meantime, a couple of ghosts have come, but they are reasonable enough to stay away and don’t interrupt them. Neither Ben nor Klaus pay much attention to them.

“Found it!” screams Klaus after a couple of minutes. He’s proudly holding a little orange box, someone’s medications. It is half empty, but it’s not like Klaus cares “It’s just Oxy so it won’t do much, but it’s a start.”

He pops the bottle open and takes three pills "Oh, this brings back so many memories. I used to do this when I was thirteen. Fourteen." He pauses, thinking "No, definitely thirteen. Those were good times.” He’s smiling again and Ben wants to punch him. “Not really though. Those weren’t good times. No time in the house was a good time, ya know?”

The ghosts are still there, Klaus can feel them coming and see some of them. There's a middle-aged Mexican man blabbering and a twenty-something white lady crying next to some rubbles, they’re not the scary type of ghost, they’re an unpleasant company but he can live with them, he just has to ignore them until he can find something stronger. He takes another pill, now the lady feels a little further away. “That’s better”

“Are you done?”

“I want a taco” Klaus is good at ignoring his brother too when he wants, and right now he really wants to. “Let’s go”

“You’re joking”

“Chop chop, Benny boy”

Ben sighs but follows his brother anyway. What else is he supposed to do?

 

In the next three hours, Klaus stops anytime he sees a corpse that may have drugs with him and searches them. He's not proud of it, and Ben loudly and strongly argues with him every time he does it, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Some angry ghosts come too, demanding respect, those are more difficult to ignore. At least he finds what he is looking for.

The lady is gone now, other ghosts come and go, but Klaus plans on getting rid of them soon.

"I can't believe you're doing this. You're better than that. Dave would be so disappointed. Fuck, I'm disappointed!"

Dave would definitely be disappointed, Klaus agrees, but he is not here, isn't he? Klaus had made sure of that before he started. "Welcome to the club! I'm afraid there aren't any seats left, but I'm sure you won't mind standing"

"I do mind! This is creepy, even for you!"

Klaus doesn't like that. He doesn't like that at all. He may be high right now, but he can still recognize an insult when he hears one. This is one, and not one of those he's used to. Those don’t bother him anymore, but this one does. "Even for me?" he asks "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Ben seems to be taken aback by that, he struggles to find the words to fix it but can't seem to come up with anything "I..."

"I'll tell you what." says Klaus, "You think you're better than me. All this time you spent with me it was never out of love or because you cared. You had to make sure you were still better than me, even when you're dead."

"That's not true."

"You think I'm creepy and disturbed because I'd rather talk to you instead of talking to any living being. You’re stuck with me and you don’t like it."

"That's not what I meant."

"I thought you wanted to stay with me. You never wanted to keep me company, you never wanted what's best for me or any of those shit. You wanted to torture me because of what happened to you!"

"Take it back!" now Ben is getting angrier with every word Klaus says.

Klaus doesn't care, he's had enough. For years he has been the screw-up and Ben has been there long enough to know what he went through. He can barely deal with Luther and Diego's looks every time they see him, they don't know, they only judge him for his drug habits, but Ben should know better than that.

He saw what ghosts did to him, he knows why he can't be with anyone, not like Allison or Diego or even Vanya. No one would understand what it means to be like him, to see these people, to have this power.

The ghosts now are upset, they're moving faster than they are supposed to, they're fidgeting.

Klaus, Klaus, Klaus.

"Shut up!" he screams to no one, because at least if he screams their voices are weaker.

"You don't mean it" says a voice he knows too well.

Klaus squints his eyes "Of course you're one of them now. That's just my luck." This can't be happening. He searches his pockets for some of the pills he just recovered.

"Stop."

"Diego?" Ben calls, but Number Two doesn't answer, too focused on Klaus to notice. His voice is small, he saw Diego every time Klaus saw him, maybe more, but this is different.

Diego, unlike Ben, wears all the signs of the Apocalypse: there are scratches all over his arms and a couple of burns here and there. Blood is running from his temple and he is covered in ash. His leather suit is all torn and dirty.

"Amazing, now I have two ball breaker dead brothers following me!" Klaus whines "Because my life wasn't miserable enough already" he stands up, throwing his hands in the hair.

"Don't give me that! Little Number Four is alive, poor Klaus! You colossal prick"

Klaus knows what Diego is thinking, it's what they always thought about him. He is a disappointment, a junkie who did nothing with his life. He is a 30 years old man who can't even drive and cannot be taken seriously: it only makes sense that Diego would be pissed at Klaus right now, that's how things were between them, how their whole family worked.

He is the worst of them all, a waste of space and powers. Not good enough to live, not good enough to die, apparently, only good enough to make a scene.

He doesn't usually fight his brothers, they normally ignore him, and if he has to choose he would have much rather fought Luther, especially now that he can't hurt him with his super gorilla strength anymore. He never wanted to fight Diego or Ben, they are the good ones, but this is the end of the fucking world, and his options are limited. 

So screw it, he is going to make a scene and who cares if those two are the only one available. None of this matters anyway.

“How fucking disappointing must be for you to know you all died while I, of all people, am still alive. How disrespecting!” Klaus can see Diego getting angrier with every word he said, and he finds the reaction strangely pleasant “You would very much like to swap places, right?”

"Klaus, stop." He can hear the warning in Ben's voice, but what does he think he can do? Poor Ben always hated to fight, it reminded him of his own power.

Klaus ignores him and continues to shout right in Diego's ghostly face, laughing “Number Four dead, Number Two alive, that’s what should have happened, right? You must be so pissed; I wonder how you’re not stut-”

Klaus doesn't expect the punch. 

There is blood in his mouth and his cheek feel on fire. He almost falls backward, but he can't tell if that is because of the shock or the pain. It takes him a little too long to understand what happened. “You punched me!”

"You should be thankful I didn't have a knife in my hand or that little death wish of yours would be true now." Diego is still pissed, and Klaus realizes he might have gone a little too far, but that doesn't matter. Diego punched him!

“No, you don’t understand! You-”

“You touched him."

Ben's voice is strangely calm, he keeps looking at Diego's hands in confusion. He then turns his gaze to Klaus, there's hope in his eyes "How did he do that?"

“I- I… I don’t know! That’s some Patrick Swayze level shit!”

“What are you two talking about?”

Ben turns to Diego and lets out an excited wheeze "We cannot touch living people; they're supposed to pass us through!"

“Don’t you understand? You shouldn’t have been able to punch me.”

“I haven’t touched _anyone_ in more than ten years.”

“How did you do that?”

“I did nothing” mutters Diego, staring back at the two pairs of eyes fixed upon him, "I think Klaus did."

 

For the next couple of hours, Klaus and Ben loudly chat and ask each other questions neither of them knows how to answer about Klaus’s newly discovered power.

Diego doesn't understand what is happening, not entirely, but his brothers seem so excited he doesn't want to interrupt them.

From the way they speak to each other, it seems obvious to him that they had been talking for a long time. There is no way either of them would be so comfortable if they hadn't regularly seen each other in the last eleven years. That means Klaus had conjured Ben before: did he do it while he was sober? Did he regularly sober up just to see Ben? Or is he capable to see Ben even though he is high?

He has so many questions, most of them remind him of their father's concerns towards their power, and as soon as he realizes he is deeply ashamed of it.

He doesn't really care about how it works, about the _how_ and _when_ and _where_ his siblings used to meet, he just cares about the fact that they had met in the first place. 

Klaus was never a shy guy, for the better part of his life he was loud and extravagant and couldn't really keep a secret, so why didn't he say anything about this? They might have wanted to talk to Ben in the last ten years. Diego knows he would have.

But then again, why didn't he told any of his siblings what Mom said in the park? They would have wanted to know that too, especially Luther.

Klaus is now throwing stuff at Ben, while he tries to catch them. It isn't really working, but it is a nice try. They both look so young and excited, Diego can't remember the last time Klaus was so happy about one of his powers. He can't remember neither of them ever be really happy about their powers.

Klaus always hated the dead, Diego had never understood why. If anything, the more he grew, the more he wished he had a power like that, so he could be sure to never miss anyone. Throwing knife was all fun and game, but in the real world it was hardly useful.

This power they had so casually discovered was cool enough though, but Diego still believes conjuring the dead is way better than touching them.

Still, he is a little hurt Klaus hadn't said anything about Ben. They are no Allison and Luther of course, but they are close in their own way.

He was the one saving his ass anytime he got into trouble, Klaus asked him to tie him up, not anyone else, it was Diego the one giving him rides every once in a while.

It had been almost eleven years, even though they spent most of them apart, he could have still said something along the line of "Do you remember our dead brother, Ben? I'm the one who can conjure the dead and I've been seeing him". It wasn't that hard.

It takes hours before Klaus and Ben stop doing whatever they decided to do next. They haven't made much progress since the beginning of the day, but they are still excited so Diego decides not to bring that up.

He had found a diner that hadn't been completely destroyed by the Apocalypse, so he had spent there most of the day, adjusting to his new ghostly form. He had found little to no edible food, some frozen waffles and pizzas, but he decided it was good enough for Klaus to eat.

Now he is laying on one of the benches. He soon discovered that there's only so much a ghost can do, so he decided to just rest until Klaus and Ben were finished.

"So, how's the dead world treating you, darling?" asks Klaus, plopping on the other side of the table, the argument from the morning long forgotten. He has a can of beer in his hand, surely the only alcoholic thing he had managed to find in the kitchen.

"It's boring. I get why they all come to you."

Klaus scoffs "Yeah, they're still assholes though."

"I guess" he agrees, but there's uncertainty in his voice.

Klaus notices, he had always been very observant when he wanted "What's wrong? Except for all the being dead thing, you know."

Diego raises his eyebrows, amused, but doesn't comment on it. He's sitting now, his back against the glass miraculously intact "Do you remember that doughnut place we went when we were little kids?"

"The one Five destroyed the day Father died?"

He didn’t technically destroyed it, but Diego knows what he means. He nods "I wonder if it is still standing." there are a lot of places he wonders that about: the gym, the police department, Eudora's house.

"What does it matter? It's not like we can go there anymore and eat some doughnut"

"It does matter. That was one of the few places we got to be children in. That's important."

"Awwww, Diego. I always knew there was a sensitive little teddy bear under all those knives and vigilante stuff!" Klaus mocks him.

"Fuck off, I'm serious"

"Don't I look serious enough to you?" answers Klaus, opening his arms, like he is letting Diego give a better look at him.

That’s ridiculous. Why does he always have to act like this?

“You never told me” Diego finally snaps.

"What?" Klaus takes a sip from the beer, because of course he does.

“You seeing Ben. You never told me.”

Klaus just scoffs, like it’s no big deal “Would you have believed me?”

“I believed you when you talked about the war”

“You saw me crying for Dave. Would you have believed me without any proof whatsoever?” he pauses nonchalantly "I know some of you would have thought I was making him up for attention"

“Luther maybe, I would have not." Klaus just curls his nose in response, skeptical "Give me some credit, bro”

“You didn’t even notice when I was kidnapped”

“I came for you!”

“Because the _lady cop_ asked you to. And that happened last week, we were brothers for 30 years!" he rolls his eyes, then lowers his voice again, "Look, don't get me wrong, I'm glad you did that, but it was never for me. It just happened to involve me. And that's fine, it's not like I ever did anything for you anyway"

“You know I care about you, right? We all do, we’re family.”

“I guess, in your own way.” He isn’t looking at him, he looks more desperate now than he ever did when he was high, or maybe Diego is just imagining things now “I don’t think that’s your fault, that’s how our family works, we’re no musketeers. At least you were there for those things.” Klaus looks out from the window then, to wherever Ben is “Except for Ben, you were the only one giving half a shit, and he is a ghost, so he doesn’t really count.”

“I’m a ghost too now.”

“Yep, you are” he says, taking a longer sip. It’s strange to be this open about everything, no one in the family ever talked like this. Maybe Klaus is right, maybe he had not been there for his siblings as much as he thought, “Look at us, spending some quality bro time at the end of the world” says Klaus with an exhausted laugh after a couple more seconds.

Diego smiles “I already told you, everyone I like is dead.”

“That’s one hell of an understatement.” Klaus gets up, throwing the empty can away “I’m gonna get another one of these. I’d ask you if you want one, but you can’t really drink, and you’re not the type." he salutes him, all serious, like he is still in Vietnam, and leaves.

“Klaus” calls Diego

“Yeah?”

“You’re the only person I like that’s not dead. Let’s keep it that way.”

Klaus clicks his tongue and nods, he smiles a little but says nothing. Then he leaves, for good this time. Diego is not sure he can ask for more.


End file.
